Coinbase distances Base from highly criticized memecoin that dumped $15M

Crypto exchange Coinbase has distanced its blockchain network Base from a memecoin it shared that saw massive backlash after the token rapidly gained, then dropped in value by millions of dollars.

Base posted to X on April 16 with an image promoting the network with its marketing tagline, “Base is for everyone,” it also shared a link to a token of the same name on Zora, a social network where users can make posts into tokens for others to speculate on.

In just over an hour after it was created, the Base is for everyone token hit a peak market capitalization of $17.1 million — then dropped by nearly 90% over the next 20 minutes to a market value of $1.9 million, DEX Screener data shows.

The token has since made a slight recovery and was trading around $7.7 million at the time of publication.

A Coinbase spokeswoman distanced Base from the token, telling Cointelegraph that “Base did not launch a token.”

“This is not an official Base token, and Base did not sell this token. Base posted on Zora, which automatically tokenizes content,” the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman pointed to a legal disclaimer on the token’s Zora page that states Base’s posts on the token-making platform “are similar to those already shared on X — do not expect profits or returns and no ongoing development or efforts will be made to increase their value.”

The post adds that Base will receive 10 million tokens out of a total supply of 1 billion that it pledged never to sell, and money made from fees will support grants for the network’s developers.

Zora shows Base has earned over $61,000 from the token, which has seen its total trading volume surpass $26 million.

Hundreds of X posts have criticized Base over the token, with one X user saying that “any credibility this chain had is now gone.”

Former Riot Platforms researcher Pierre Rochard called the token “terrible for the industry, very short-term transactional extraction.” 

AP Collective founder Abhishek Pawa said on X that Base “tried redefining memecoins as ‘contentcoins’ and completely botched the execution.”

“The core innovation actually has potential,” he added. “But base utterly fumbled execution, optics, and trader expectations, resulting in justified backlash.”

Meanwhile, Base creator Jesse Pollack, who has posted to Zora to create dozens of tokens in the past two months, defended Base creating the token, saying on X that “someone has to normalize putting all of our content onchain. I'm not afraid for it to be us.”

He added that creating a token for internet content is “the end game for how we can build a new economy where creators earn from their creativity,” which he said would “require overhauling our mental models and product experiences.”

Harrison Leggio, the co-founder of crypto startup g8keep, said that the Base is for everyone token “was HORRIFICALLY sniped.”

Leggio, who goes by “Pop Punk” on X, said he found two addresses that bought 21% of the token’s supply for 2 Ether (ETH), currently worth about $3,200 before both wallets transferred the tokens to other addresses and sold them for a total profit of around $300,000.

Related: Pump.Fun’s PumpSwap DEX processed $2.5B of trades last week, up 40% 

Just over 75 minutes after the creation of the Base is for everyone token, Base again posted to Zora to promote its presence at an event in New York next month — which also generated a related token.

DEX Screener shows that the token, called “Base @ FarCon 2025,” reached a peak value of only $987,570 in the minute after its launch before quickly dropping nearly 77% to settle at a value of around $230,000.

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